Faculty Bibliography

The current study examined whether parent psychological resources (parenting stress, depression, and social support from friends and family) moderated the effects of early family preventive intervention on parenting among high-risk families. Ninety-two preschool-age children (M age = 3.94 years) at familial risk for conduct problems participated in a randomized controlled trial of a family intervention to prevent conduct problems. The majority of families were African American or Latino and experienced multiple stressors associated with poverty and familial antisocial behavior. Families were randomized to a 22-session group-based intervention or to a no-intervention, assessment-only control condition. Parents reported on their psychological resources (parenting stress, depression and social support from friends and family) at baseline. Parenting (responsive, harsh, stimulation for learning) was assessed through self-report and observational measures four times over 24 months. Previously-reported intervention effects on responsive parenting and stimulation for learning were moderated by depression and social support from friends, respectively, such that benefits were concentrated among those at greatest risk (i.e., depressed, limited support from friends). The intervention effect on harsh parenting was not moderated by any of the parent psychological resources examined, such that parents with high and low resources benefited comparably. Consideration of moderators of preventive intervention effects on parenting provides important information about intervention impact among families experiencing multiple barriers to engagement and effective parenting. Findings suggest that parents with diminished psychological resources are just as likely to benefit. Family-focused, group-based intervention is promising for strengthening parenting among the highest risk families.

Given the disproportionately high rates of obesity-related morbidity among low-income, ethnic minority youth, obesity prevention in this population is critical. Prior efforts to curb childhood obesity have had limited public health impact. The present study evaluates an innovative approach to obesity prevention by promoting foundational parenting and child behavioral regulation. This pre-post intervention study evaluated an enhanced version of ParentCorps with 91 families of pre-Kindergarten students in low-income, urban communities. Assessments included tests of knowledge and parent report. Consistent with findings from two randomized controlled trials of ParentCorps, parent knowledge and use of foundational parenting practices increased and child behavior problems decreased. Child nutrition knowledge and physical activity increased and television watching decreased; for boys, sleep problems decreased. Comparable benefits occurred for children at high risk for obesity based on child dysregulation, child overweight, and parent overweight. Results support a "whole child," family-centered approach to health promotion in early childhood.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether food behaviours of parents are associated with children's dietary intakes outside the child-care setting, and to compare children's dietary intakes at home with foods and beverages consumed when they are at child-care centres. DESIGN: In 2005-2006, a survey was completed by parents of at least one child between 3 and 5 years old who attended group child-care centres. Surveys about nutrition practices were completed by centre directors. Research assistants observed foods and beverages consumed by children at lunchtime at the centres. SETTING: Sixteen licensed group child-care centres in three underserved New York City communities (South Bronx, East/Central Harlem, Central Brooklyn) and the Lower East Side of Manhattan. SUBJECTS: Two hundred parents. RESULTS: Children were more likely to consume healthful foods including fruits or vegetables if parents reported purchasing food from produce stands/farmers' markets, shopped for frozen or canned fruits frequently and ate family meals or meals prepared at home daily. Children were more likely to consume less healthful foods such as French fries, or fruit drinks, more frequently if parents reported eating meals from fast-food or other restaurants at least once weekly, or if children ate while watching television. Types of foods and beverages offered to children at home (e.g. higher-fat milk, soft drinks and desserts) were less healthful than those offered at child-care centres. CONCLUSIONS: Children's dietary intakes at home need to be improved. Parents need to understand the importance of providing home environments that support healthful food behaviours in children.

OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the impact of an early childhood, family-centered, school-based intervention on children's kindergarten academic achievement.METHODS:This was a cluster (school) randomized controlled trial with assessments from pre-kindergarten (pre-k) entry through the end of kindergarten. The setting was 10 public elementary schools with 26 pre-k classes in 2 school districts in urban disadvantaged neighborhoods serving a largely black, low-income population. Participants were 1050 black and Latino, low-income children (age 4; 88% of pre-k population) enrolled in 10 schools over 4 years. Universal intervention aimed to promote self-regulation and early learning by strengthening positive behavior support and effective behavior management at home and school, and increasing parent involvement in education. Intervention included after-school group sessions for families of pre-k students (13 2-hour sessions; co-led by pre-k teachers) and professional development for pre-k and kindergarten teachers. The outcome measures were standardized test scores of kindergarten reading, writing, and math achievement by independent evaluators masked to intervention condition (primary outcome); developmental trajectories of teacher-rated academic performance from pre-k through kindergarten (secondary outcome).RESULTS:Relative to children in control schools, children in intervention schools had higher kindergarten achievement test scores (Cohen's d = 0.18, mean difference = 2.64, SE = 0.90, P = .03) and higher teacher-rated academic performance (Cohen's d = 0.25, mean difference = 5.65, SE = 2.34, P = .01).CONCLUSIONS:Early childhood population-level intervention that enhances both home and school environments shows promise to advance academic achievement among minority children from disadvantaged, urban neighborhoods.

Limited socioeconomic family and neighborhood resources are known to influence multiple aspects of school readiness skills. Early parent involvement in education is hypothesized to attenuate risk for academic underachievement related to socioeconomic disadvantage. The current study used multilevel modeling to test whether parent involvement moderates the effects of family and neighborhood level socioeconomic resources on school readiness among a sample of 171 urban 4-year-olds. Parent involvement moderated the effect of family and neighborhood socioeconomic resources on the social-emotional-behavioral components of school readiness. Increased parent involvement in education was related to lower rates of behavior problems among children of single parents and among children from neighborhoods with higher levels of childcare burden. In contrast, parent involvement did not moderate the relation between socioeconomic risk and cognitive-academic components of school readiness skills

Anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental health problems in young children but there has been a dearth of studies focusing on Asian American children. This study examines the patterns and the predictors of childhood anxiety and related symptoms in young children in a diverse Asian American (ASA) sample (n = 101). Findings indicate that ASA children are at higher risk for anxiety, somatization, and depressive problems than their peers. Parents' level of acculturation (i.e., American identity, English competence), parental negative emotion socialization, conflicted parent-child relationship, child emotional knowledge and adaptive skills, as well as teachers' ethnic background and school class types were all associated with ASA children's anxiety. A combination of cultural, family, and school factors explained from 17 to 39 % of the variance in anxiety symptoms. Findings inform prevention services for young ASA children.

The high prevalence and early onset of anxiety disorders have inspired innovative prevention efforts targeting young at-risk children. With parent-child prevention models showing success for older children and adolescents, the goal of this study was to evaluate a parent-child indicated preventive intervention for preschoolers with mild to moderate anxiety symptoms. Sixteen children (ages 3-5) and at least one of their parents participated in Strengthening Early Emotional Development (SEED), a new 10-week intervention with concurrent groups for parents and children. Outcome measures included clinician-rated and parent-rated assessments of anxiety symptoms, as well as measures of emotion knowledge, parent anxiety, and parental attitudes about children's anxiety. Participation in SEED was associated with reduced child anxiety symptoms and improved emotion understanding skills. Parents reported decreases in their own anxiety, along with attitudes reflecting enhanced confidence in their children's ability to cope with anxiety. Reductions in child and parent anxiety were maintained at 3-month follow-up. Findings suggest that a parent-child cognitive-behavioral preventive intervention may hold promise for young children with mild to moderate anxiety. Improvements in parent anxiety and parental attitudes may support the utility of intervening with parents. Fostering increased willingness to encourage their children to engage in new and anxiety-provoking situations may help promote continued mastery of new skills and successful coping with anxiety.

This study examined the mental health and academic functioning of 442 4- and 5-year old children of Mexican (MA) and Dominican (DA) immigrant mothers using a cultural framework of Latino parenting. Data were collected on mothers' self-reported acculturative status, parenting practices and cultural socialization, and on children's behavioral functioning (mother- and teacher-report) and school readiness (child test). Results provide partial support for the validity of the framework in which mothers' acculturative status and socialization of respeto (a Latino cultural value of respect) and independence (a U.S. American cultural value) predict parenting practices. For both groups, English language competence was related to less socialization of respeto, and other domains of acculturative status (i.e., U.S. American/ethnic identity, and U.S. American/ethnic cultural competence) were related to more socialization of respeto and independence. Socialization of respeto was related to the use of authoritarian practices and socialization of independence was related to the use of authoritative practices. Socialization of respeto was also related to lower school readiness for DA children, whereas socialization of independence was related to higher school readiness for MA children. Independence was also related to higher teacher-rated externalizing problems for MA children. For both groups, authoritarian parenting was associated with more parent-reported internalizing and externalizing problems. The discussion focuses on ethnic subgroup differences and similarities to further understanding of Latino parenting from a cultural perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

OBJECTIVES: To test the hypothesis that family intervention to promote effective parenting in early childhood affects obesity in preadolescence. METHODS: Participants were 186 minority youth at risk for behavior problems who enrolled in long-term follow-up studies after random assignment to family intervention or control condition at age 4. Follow-up Study 1 included 40 girls at familial risk for behavior problems; Follow-up Study 2 included 146 boys and girls at risk for behavior problems based on teacher ratings. Family intervention aimed to promote effective parenting and prevent behavior problems during early childhood; it did not focus on physical health. BMI and health behaviors were measured an average of 5 years after intervention in Study 1 and 3 years after intervention in Study 2. RESULTS: Youth randomized to intervention had significantly lower BMI at follow-up relative to controls (Study 1 P = .05; Study 2 P = .006). Clinical impact is evidenced by lower rates of obesity (BMI >/=95th percentile) among intervention girls and boys relative to controls (Study 2: 24% vs 54%, P = .002). There were significant intervention-control group differences on physical and sedentary activity, blood pressure, and diet. CONCLUSIONS: Two long-term follow-up studies of randomized trials show that relative to controls, youth at risk for behavior problems who received family intervention at age 4 had lower BMI and improved health behaviors as they approached adolescence. Efforts to promote effective parenting and prevent behavior problems early in life may contribute to the reduction of obesity and health disparities.

OBJECTIVE: To examine physical and mental health functioning among Asian-American children of US-born and immigrant parents. STUDY DESIGN: We used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 base-year public data file. The sample was restricted to 7726 Asian and US-born white children. Asian subgroups were created based on parents' country of birth. Child physical and mental health was assessed based on multiple sources of data and measures. Analyses included multivariate linear and logistic regression. RESULTS: After adjusting for demographic and contextual differences, disparities were found for physical and mental health indicators. Children of foreign-born Asian families (from east, southeast, and south Asia) were at greater risk for poor physical health, internalizing problems, and inadequate interpersonal relationships compared with children of US-born white families. CONCLUSION: There is little support for the 'model minority' myth with regard to physical and mental health. Evidence of physical and mental health disparities among young Asian-American children and differing risk based on region of origin of immigrant parents suggests the need for culturally informed prevention efforts during early childhood